A nonviolent, popular movement at work

Reflections and feedback have been coming in to FOR from across the U.S. peace community about this past Wednesday’s afternoon meeting we hosted with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as well as our Thursday morning follow-up strategy session on preventing war with Iran. Here are a few of the comments we’ve received thus far:

Doris Abdullah, U.N. representative, On Earth Peace agency:

Thank you for a brilliant evening of dialogue with President Ahmadinejad and members of the United States Peace community. As a member of that Peace family, I found the evening both informative and helpful for future conversations and interchanges between ourselves and Iran. I was especially moved by the opening framework expressions of the "opportunity to love or welcome the stranger, capacity to trust one another and practice in hospitality."

Jean Stokan, policy director for Pax Christi USA:

We want to reiterate our profound thanks for all you did to convene the faith and peace community for the meeting with Pres. Ahmadinejad, as well as the following morning for the debrief and exploration of next steps. This was a very significant endeavor, an important one on many levels, and you did it beautifully, strategically, humbly and most effectively.

Extra thanks for including Dave Robinson's [executive director of Pax Christi USA] question on Iraq and the purusit of a regional diplomatic solution to stabilization. In addition to Dave's participation in an' 06 FOR delegation to Iran, he was the Catholic on the religious leaders' delegation to Iran in Feb. 07 organized by the Mennonites and Quakers, which had the 2 1/2 hr. exchange with Pres. Ahmadinejad.  During that meeting, Dave probed the possibilities around Iran's role in a regional peace process for stabilizing Iraq, so it was gratifying to be able to elevate that in Wed. night's meeting, and keep this aspect of addressing Iraq in the forefront.

Pax Christi was honored to be part of it, and we are grateful for your partnership in our shared passion to help build a more just, nonviolent and peace-filled world.

Helen Lindsay, FOR peace delegate to Iran in February/March 2008:

Congratulations on a terrifically organized meeting with Pres. Ahmadinejad. Not a glitch, at least that was apparent to those of us who were attending. I thought the questions were well formulated and presented. And we got a good idea of Ahmadinejad's position from what he left out and how he answered the rest. Perhaps most of all the meeting gave a chance for the peace movement to meet together in one place for one objective.

Ed Kinane, Voices for Creative Nonviolence; Syracuse Peace Council; FOR peace delegate to Iran in March 2007:

[T]he meeting was also an opportunity for Ahmadinejad et al. to get a glimpse of a nonviolent, popular movement at work. Perhaps Ahmadinejad's willingness to meet with representatives of such a movement will help set a precedent for other international leaders under u.s. siege. Kudos to f.o.r. for persistently working to develop "citizen diplomacy" with Iran.

Paul Kawika Martin, organizing and policy director, Peace Action; FOR peace delegate to Iran in March 2007: click here to read “My Two Hours with Ahmadinejad.”

Richard Deats, long-time FOR member and editor emeritus of Fellowship magazine; FOR peace delegate to Iran in May 2006: click here to read “Listening to Ahmadinejad: Can this advance the cause of Truth?”